And now that the protein-targeted strategy is showing promise, several companies have jumped into the fray. Dozens of similar drugs are currently being tested for pancreatic, lung and colon cancer.
The drug that opened the floodgates, daraxonrasib, has been quickly reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration and could gain approval later this year. Until then, the agency has approved a plan by Revolution Medicines, the small Silicon Valley company developing the drug, to offer early access to some patients.
The pill, which is taken three times a day, is not a cure; Eventually, daraxonrasib stops working. Many patients do not respond. And it has side effects that can be severe, including a rash, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea, and raw, split fingertips.
However, until now, pancreatic cancer patients have been offered grueling chemotherapy that does little to prolong their lives.
The pancreas, a gland located deep in the abdomen, helps regulate blood sugar and digestion. Only 3 percent of these patients with cancer that has spread to distant parts of the body are still alive after five years. The disease kills more than 50,000 Americans a year.
Revolution tested daraxonrasib in a late-stage clinical trial in patients who had metastatic cancer and had already tried chemotherapy. For these patients, additional treatment was seen as a Hail Mary.
Patients who received the drug lived an average of more than 13 months, compared to less than seven months for patients who received chemotherapy, the company said in a news release.
The researchers will present the findings at a major cancer conference in Chicago later this month. The study has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Scientists say the drug could become the anti-cancer equivalent of walking the four-minute mile. “It’s the beginning, not the end,” said Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee, a pancreatic cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins University.
